Odds display preferences

Both teams to score in another Cagliari clash

2014-11-27

Cagliari has become the Italian Serie A entertainer that one hoped that it would and the workload of Fiorentina‘s medical staff is decreasing so one wants to back both teams to score at odds of 67/1001.67-1490.67-1.490.67 with Ladbrokes when they meet on Sunday.

That Cagliari is languishing two points above the Italian Serie A relegation zone will worry fans of the league who love to watch open, attacking games. Several of Cagliari’s Italian Serie A matches have been epic, the latest being its 3-3 draw at Napoli in the last round. Zdenek Zeman does not care if going for the jugular of opponents ends up costing him his job as Cagliari coach: going for jugular is what Zeman-coached teams will do for as long as he lives.

Cagliari’s 12 Italian Serie A games have had an average of 3.33 goals – only matches featuring bottom-of-the-ladder Parma have had more goals – seven of them have gone over two and a half goals and both sides have scored in nine of them. Cagliari has kept only one Italian Serie A clean sheet and that was in its amazing 0-4 win at Empoli in which Zeman’s half-time address took place with his side leading 4-0.

Fiorentina’s 12 Italian Serie A matches have had an average of 1.92 goals – the 18th lowest in the 20-team competition – but one expects the Viola’s games to feature more goals now that Mario Gomez is back on the park and working his way to full fitness. Prior to facing Guincamp in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, Fiorentina had scored in seven of its eight away matches, with its only blank coming away to home-win-to-nil specialist Roma three months ago.

One does not like to get involved in most derbies but one is going to make an exception for the Italian Serie A argument between Juventus and Torino because there is a strong case for backing Juve to win without conceding a goal, an option that is available at odds of 1/12.00+1001.001.00-1.00 with Paddy Power.

The attraction is Torino’s inability to score goals. Torino has bagged a pathetic seven goals in its 12 Italian Serie A games and life is not going to get easier against a Juventus side that has conceded just four league goals, won seven of its last nine home matches to nil and shut out the Granata in each of the last 10 derbies, winning nine of them. Not many statistics have more wow factor than that last one.

The best pure head-to-head bet on the Italian Serie A coupon is Empoli, which is trading at odds of 6/52.20+1201.201.20-0.83 with Bwin and Ladbrokes to defeat low-scoring Atalanta on home soil.

Atalanta has hit the back of the net five times in its 12 Italian Serie A games, remarkably winning two of them but they were at home to cellar dweller Parma and away to Cagliari before it got to grips with Zeman’s tactics.

Empoli is mixing its Italian Serie A form – for example, it beat Lazio 2-1 at home two weeks after its aforementioned 0-4 loss to Cagliari on its own pitch – but one thinks that it should be shorter odds than 6/52.20+1201.201.20-0.83 to get the better of an Atalanta team that has fired blanks on each of its last five road trips and cannot be anything other than demoralised.

Finally, bear in mind betting on a lot of cards when Cesena and Genoa lock horns in Italian Serie A on Sunday. There will be no markets until Italian Serie A officials announce the refereeing appointments but both Cesena and Genoa have form. Cesena has received 33 yellow cards and two red cards in its 12 Italian Serie A matches, while Genoa has received 32 yellow cards and three red cards over the same period. That means that their combined Italian Serie A cards points average is 64.58 points based on 10 points per yellow card and 25 points per red card. Let’s hope for a strict referee.

Share this article:

About The Author

Eric has been sports journalist for over 20 years and has traveled the world covering the top sporting events for a number of publications. He also has a passion for betting, and uses his in-depth knowledge of the sports world to pinpoint outstanding odds and value betting opportunities.